Allama Iqbal Open University

Rubber is an industrial material valued worldwide for its remarkable elasticity and versatility. It has become an essential material among the several various sectors, contributing to technological progress and improving the quality of everyday life. In the twenty-first century, increasing global awareness over rubber pollution has highlighted the significant attention towards the ecological footprint and sustainability challenges associated with rubber materials. The manufacturing of rubber is known to produce effluents that are difficult to treat with existing technologies. These effluents are known to have a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) alongside organic toxic pollutants. However, the new advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for treating such wastewater have shown promise alongside AOPs that produce high amounts of hydroxyl radicals. This paper analyzes other prominent techniques such as Fenton and photo-Fenton, photocatalysis, ozonation, and electrochemical oxidation, aimed at treating rubber industry effluents. These techniques are found to be highly effective against resistant pollutants and aid in increasing biodegradation efficiency. The Fenton processes, alongside AOP technologies, pose some operational challenges and are not advanced enough to have cost-effective and efficient solutions. The combination of AOPs with biological processes and other recent studies have been shown to be effective, but more research needs to be done on their economic viability. We have also emphasized the important role of hybrid synergistic systems and AI in improving the effectiveness of AOPs for achieving better waste management practices in the rubber industry. Classification of advanced oxidation process (AOPs) based on reactive mechanism

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of behavioral biases and social factors on financial satisfaction, with the mediating role of contrarian investment decisions. Additionally, we examined the moderating role of the need for cognition in the relationship between various behavioral biases and social factors to contrarian investment decisions. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a survey method to collect data at three different time waves from individual investors in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Questionnaires were distributed among investors in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, and a reasonable sample of 387 responses was received. Findings The results indicated that behavioral biases and social factors had a significant negative impact on contrarian investment decisions. Contrarian investment decisions positively predicted financial satisfaction and mediated the effects of behavioral biases and social factors on financial satisfaction. Furthermore, need for cognition significantly and positively moderated the relationships between status quo bias and contrarian investment decisions, and between confirmation bias and contrarian investment decisions. Among the social factors, need for cognition significantly moderated the relationship between information cascade and contrarian investment decisions. Practical implications From a practical perspective, this study underscores the importance of investment training programs designed to enhance analytical thinking skills. Such programs should equip investors with the ability to critically evaluate market trends, enabling them to make informed investment decisions rather than relying on cognitive biases or succumbing to social pressure. Financial market policymakers and regulators are encouraged to design improved investor protection policies that promote critical thinking, data-driven strategies, and the reduction of speculative behaviors in financial markets. Originality/value This study complements the dual-process model of System 1 and System 2 thinking. It provides nuanced insights by examining a holistic model comprising various social, behavioral, and attitudinal factors.

In this study, BaSnO3 and Na-BaSnO3 perovskites were fabricated by using the Sol-gel method. The synthesized perovskites were used to photocatalytically degrade Ciprofloxacin (CF) under sunlight irradiation. EDX, FTIR, UV-vis, and XRD analysis was used to study the synthesized perovskites. The optical band gap calculated for BaSnO3 and Na-BaSnO3 using Tauc's equation and corresponds to a value of 3.3 and 2.9 eV, respectively. The PZC value of both doped and undoped perovskites was determined to be at pH 7. In the case of Na-BaSnO3, the average crystallite size increased from 0.93 to 7.87 nm. Several parameters, including pH effect, catalyst dose, and pollutant concentration at different temperatures (30, 40, 50 degrees C) values were studied to efficiently degrade CF. The result showed that the degradation percentage increased as the concentration of the antibiotic was increased to 5 ppm (18.7%) and was highest at 7 ppm (65.6%). At optimum concentration of 13 and 7 ppm and at photocatalyst dose of 20 and 10 mg for Na-BaSnO3 and BaSnO3, respectively, at Point of Zero charge (PZC) value of 7 and 50 degrees C was 71.6%. Conclusively, Na-BaSnO3 showed higher degradation of CF compared to BaSnO3 (57.9%).

This paper develops an extension of the research work by Proinov to the product spaces X-|I| (I is representing an indexing set). This paper also introduces a novel class of (L;Y)-contractions defined on a supremum metric (X-|I|,d '). In supremum metric (X-|I|,d '), several new fixed point theorems for (L;Y)-contractions have been established that generalize well-known ideas like the Banach, Geraghty, Boyd-Wong, and Wardowski principles. This paper also contributes a new iterated function system (IFS) built on the family of (L;Y)-contractions and demonstrates the existence and uniqueness of fractals (in other words, compact attractors) in a complete supremum metric (X-|I|,d '). Theoretical work is illustrated with examples and graphs.

Hydrogen (H2) generation via hydrolysis of magnesium-based alloys is significant due to abundant resources, cost-efficient and environmental friendly by-products but the formation of passive layers on the unreacted materials hinders the substantial technique. Exploring the effective modification of magnesium-based alloys, we can improve the initial hydrolysis kinetics and increase H2 generation rate. In this work, expanded graphite (EG) is used as a catalysts to activate Al12Mg17 alloys. Hydrolytic activation energy is used to study the effect of catalysts with solution on the H2 production of Al12Mg17. Here, we employed ball milling technique to introduce EG in Al12Mg17. Due to the fold-shape like structural of EG which can easily coated on the surface of hydrolytic material during milling and the potential of catalysts to prevent cold-welding and to optimize milling efficiency to decrease particle size, Al12Mg17 produces a higher H2 yield. At 25 degrees C, Al12Mg17-10 wt%EG composites produced 954.2 mLg- 1 H2 yield within 5 min, respectively. Furthermore, even in an ambient environment with a relative humidity of 48 %, the Al12Mg17-EG composite demonstrated excellent air-stable ability. In practical applications, Mg-based materials may be stored and transferred securely, 3 h milled Al12Mg17-10 wt%EG composites maintained a 91.3 % fuel conversion after 96 h of air exposure. This work provides an effective approach for the synthesis of lightweight material and their catalytic effects for H2 generation via hydrolysis.